2018 Fall Conference

2018 Fall Conference

Seeing Like a Capitalist: Histories of Commercial Surveillance in America

Thursday, November 8, 2018 to Friday, November 9, 2018

Hagley Library, 298 Buck Road, Wilmington, DE

The 2018 fall conference will explore the history of commercial surveillance in the United States, from settlement to the present. These non-state surveillance activities might be found in a variety of business settings and industries, involve a range of formal or informal practices, and might be directed at customers, media audiences, borrowers, consumer markets, employees, or labor. The long history of commercial surveillance serves to illuminate the precursors, continuities, and logic of today's "surveillance capitalism."

Conference panels will take place throughout the day on Friday, November 9 in the Soda House. For more information, see the schedule below. A printable PDF schedule is also available.

"Seeing Like a Capitalist" is sponsored by the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society. The conference was initiated by Josh Lauer (University of New Hampshire), and he is joined on the program committee by Roger Horowitz (Hagley Museum and Library), Ken Lipartito (Florida International University), and Amrys O. Williams (Hagley Museum and Library).

Conference Details

Call for Proposals

Call for Proposals
Due May 1, 2018

The history of surveillance is often associated with the history of the state. However, commercial organizations in the United States—from insurance companies to audience rating firms and database marketers, to corporate personnel and auditing departments—also exercise power over citizens through systems of identification, classification, and monitoring. The history of commercial surveillance thus intersects with key issues concerning the history of privacy, information, social sorting and discrimination, and technologies of discipline and control.

For a conference sponsored by the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society on November 8–9, 2018, we invite proposals that explore the history of commercial surveillance in the United States, from settlement to the present. These (non-state) surveillance activities might be found in a variety of business settings and industries, involve a range of formal or informal practices, and might be directed at customers, media audiences, borrowers, consumer markets, employees, or labor. The long history of commercial surveillance serves to illuminate the precursors, continuities, and logic of today's "surveillance capitalism."

We are interested in original, empirically grounded, unpublished essays that consider one or more of the following questions:

How have commercial surveillance systems contributed to the production of knowledge about individuals or populations? To what extent have private-sector classification systems shaped categories of identity and social status in the United States?

In what ways have commercial surveillance systems contributed to understandings of gender and race in the United States? How have these understandings been formalized or institutionalized?

How does the development of commercial surveillance fit into broader social, political, or economic efforts to discipline behavior or control risk?

To what extent have commercial surveillance systems overlapped—or collaborated—with state surveillance systems, such as law enforcement, social services, or statistical data gathering?

What legal issues have attended the history of commercial surveillance? How have commercial surveillance practices been regulated, particularly with regard to discrimination and privacy?

To what extent have distinctions between work and leisure been blurred by commercial surveillance?

How does the history of commercial surveillance help contextualize the development of big data and predictive analytics in our own time? What underlying structures, norms, or business objectives can be discerned?

What technologies have been developed, and for what specific purposes, to facilitate commercial surveillance?

Please submit proposals of no more than 500 words and a one-page C.V. to Carol Lockman at clockman@hagley.org by May 1, 2018. We welcome submissions from historians as well as ethnographically oriented social scientists. Presenters will receive lodging in the conference hotel and up to $500 to cover their travel costs.

All sessions will take place in the Soda House, accessed through Hagley’s Buck Road entrance. Follow signs for the Soda House. Parking is available on site.

Driving Directions

From the south: Take I-95 north to exit 5B (Newport exit) in Delaware. Follow Route 141 north for 7 miles. Turn left onto Route 100. At the light, make a right onto Buck Road. The Hagley Library entrance will be straight ahead through the gates.

From the north: Take I-95 south to exit 8B (Concord Pike/Wilmington) in Delaware. Follow signs to Route 141 South. After turning onto Route 141 south, follow Route 141 south for approximately 2.4 miles. After crossing the bridge, turn right onto Route 100. Make your next right at the light onto Buck Road. The Hagley Library entrance will be straight ahead through the gates.

From West Chester area: Take Route 52 south and continue into Delaware. In Greenville, make a left onto Buck Road and continue on Buck Road across Route 100. The Hagley Library entrance will be straight ahead through the gates.

From the New Jersey Turnpike: Take the New Jersey Turnpike South to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. After crossing the bridge, follow signs to Route 141. Follow Route 141 North for 7 miles. Turn left onto Route 100. At the light, make a right onto Buck Road. The Hagley Library entrance will be straight ahead through the gates.

From Route 202 area: Take Route 202 south to Route 141 south. Shortly after crossing the bridge, turn right onto Route 100. Make your next right at the light onto Buck Road. The Hagley Library entrance will be straight ahead through the gates.

Registration and Lodging

Registration

The conference is free but advance registration is required. Please email Nicole Mahoney to register.

Lunch is available on Friday for $15 if reserved in advance through Nicole Mahoney.

Lodging

For those staying overnight, we recommend the Best Western Brandywine Valley Inn. There is a block of rooms available for conference attendees, and shuttle service during the conference is provided.

Call (800) 537-7772 for reservations and indicate that you are attending Hagley’s fall conference to receive the discounted rate.